The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
Spacecraft require safe, lightweight, affordable heat shields for protecting the spacecraft and its occupants during re-entry of the spacecraft into the Earth's atmosphere, or entry into a planet's atmosphere. Traditionally, the weight of the heat shield has been an important factor. The higher the weight of the heat shield panels used the lower the payload that the spacecraft will be able to carry.
Previously manufactured heat shields have typically been made from mixtures of silicone resins with fillers, from epoxy-novolac resins with fillers, from phenolic resins with fillers, from carbon-carbon composites with backside insulation, from quartz-phenolic composites with backside insulation, or from Phenolic Impregnated Carbon Ablator (PICA) material. However, existing solutions can often add significant weight to a spacecraft.
The cost of manufacturing previously developed heat shields for a spacecraft has also been an important concern for designers. Traditionally, the high cost of manufacturing heatshields for spacecraft, using complex processes, has contributed significantly to the overall cost of manufacture for a spacecraft.